Venice fest to feature Kluge retro

5:00 AM PDT 5/10/2007
by
Eric J. Lyman
,
AP

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ROME -- The Venice International Film Festival will honor famed German director Alexander Kluge with a special retrospective featuring films selected by Kluge himself to illustrate the history of cinema over the last 75 years.

This year will mark both the 75th anniversary of the festival's first edition and Kluge's birth in Halberstadt, Germany.

Venice organizers said that Kluge -- one of he fathers of the Young German Cinema movement -- will "provide an overview of the last 75 years of the history of cinema with a special program presented within the framework of the Venice film festival."

The program will include an overview of pre-war films and silent cinema as well as an explanation of the Young German Cinema movement he founded.

The now-retired Kluge is no stranger to Venice. He won a special jury prize in 1966 for his first feature film, "Abschied von Gestern" (Yesterday Girl), and a Golden Lion Award two years later for "Die Artisten in der Zirkuskuppel: Ratlos" (Artists Under the Big Top: Perplexed). In 1982, he was one of the directors selected for a special honorary Golden Lion award as the festival celebrated its 50th anniversary.

"I am grateful to Kluge for having accepted, with this innovative program designed specially for the festival," Venice artistic director Marco Muller said in a statement.

Though the first Venice film festival took place 75 years ago, this year'sedition will be the 64th. The festival was forced to halt in the 1940s because of World War II and at a handful of other points due to financial difficulties.